I was sitting in the car line at my kids’ school yesterday when an old song from middle school came on the radio. “Waiting for a Star to Fall” by Boy Meets Girl. I know you’ve never heard it. It’s OLD. I get it. But I’m going to tell you about it anyway because it […]
Admission Tips: Four Pointers for Your College Application Résumé
There are a lot of items you will need to procure or create when putting together your college applications: transcripts, teacher recommendations, and essays, to name a few. You may also have to put together and submit a résumé. Given that most high schoolers have never had to put together a résumé for anything other […]
ACT English and SAT Writing Tips: “Neither” of the Words is Plural
The words either and neither almost always signal an error in ACT English and SAT Writing questions. Errors in agreement become an issue when these words are used as pronouns, as in the following phrases: either of these invitations neither of the boys As pronouns, either and neither are always singular. However, notice that in […]
How to Make the Most of the Summer Before Senior Year
It’s easy to treat your junior year–rather than your senior year–as the culmination of your high school career. Junior year is the last full year of grades that colleges see when you apply, after all, and many high school students take on leadership positions in their extracurriculars during their junior year. Senior year, however, is […]
ACT and SAT Writing Tips: Repetitively Redundant Expressions
Redundancy, in which unnecessary repetition detracts from a sentence, can occur on both the English test of the ACT and the Writing & Language section of the SAT. One type of redundant phrase you may encounter happens when a word is used to modify another word that is defined by the first word. Did you […]
ACT and SAT Writing Tips: Misplaced Modifiers
Today’s blog focuses on a great time-saving secret in the ACT English and SAT Writing section: misplaced modifiers in introductory clauses. Once you learn how to spot these frequent errors, you can quickly pinpoint the correct answer choice. Let’s get started. Can you spot the error in the following sentence? Weighing in at two and […]
ACT English and SAT Writing Tips: Parallel Prepositions
The use of prepositions in a series must either be used by all members of a series or by only the first member of the series in order to be considered parallel. Both of the following sentences are correct: You can succeed on the SAT by reading, by studying, and by taking a prep class. […]
Diction-Error-y
Some of the hardest SAT multiple-choice Writing questions involve diction, or an author’s choice of words. These questions usually appear in the Identifying Sentence Errors and have seemingly perfect grammar. The problem, however, is a word or phrase that just doesn’t make sense. Consider an example: 26. The purpose of the Heimlich Maneuver, which was […]
ACT English and SAT Writing Tips: Ambiguous Pronouns
I must apologize for my absence: Hurricane Matthew chased me from home for over a week and then kept me busy for another week when I came back. I am happy to settle back into a routine today, so let’s get right to it: Ambiguous pronouns. Ambiguous means unclear or open to more than one […]
SAT Essay Tips: Pre-Planned Ammunition
Soldiers do not go into battle without ammunition, and you should not go into the SAT without essay ammunition. The College Board uses essay questions that tend to have consistent themes, such as success, adversity, happiness, ethics, and technology. Because these themes appear so frequently, it is useful to have a few pre-planned examples that […]